Most of the children who come to the group home system are angry. Very angry. Children come into the foster system because something went wrong in their family, and it could be something like mom has cancer and needs treatment and no family member is available to take the children. It could be because of neglect or abuse. Children come to the group home system due to bad behavior.
The children will tell you they don't belong in a group home, but they all get there the same way - bad behavior.
Our job in the group home is to help the child see what they need to change, and give them the tools to change. There is that scary word again - change,
So, through fits, violence, bad language, threats of harm to staff, suicide attempts and even running away, the staff work to help the children make a better choice, and CHANGE.
Then we work with their teams to help the natural family return them to the family if that is a viable choice, we work with their teams to find viable foster homes, or guardianship families, or adoptive families.
Atkinson Family Services is changing again to help us work with the county teams and as many people involved with a child as possible to shorten the amount of time in a group home and get them into a more permanent situation.
More about change to come.
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